Page 169 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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militarisation and the SADF’s role in the occupation of Namibia and parts of Angola.
ECC branches, consisting of coalitions of student, religious and other organisations, were
set up around South Africa and it was able to draw on the support of 50 member organisations
as well as thousands of individual members. A semi-official history of the war resistance
movement inside South Africa remarked:
ECC activists were generally middle-class English-speaking young people who had been
politicised in church or student organisations. Within this group there were diverse political
and theological perspectives: liberal and radical, religious and secular, opposition to partici-
pation in all wars and opposition to service specifically in the SADF. As the campaign deve-
loped, ECC expanded to include parents and professionals, school pupils and teachers, and
Afrikaans-speaking people … Half of ECC’s membership was female (CIIR 1989: 89).
The ECC aligned itself with the UDF, and in 1985 began a ‘Troops out of the Townships’
campaign, which gained it much popular support from black communities. After a ‘troops
out’ rally one newspaper commented:
On Monday night some 4000 people of all races, colours and creeds packed the Cape To-
wn city hall to demand the removal of troops from the townships … divided communities ca-
me together – black and coloured people who are subject to police and military action, white
potential conscripts, their parents and families. (Cape Times, editorial, 9 October 1985).
The ECC adopted innovative ways of campaigning, reflecting its youth base, such a rock
concerts, writing workshops, art exhibitions, music records and film festivals.
COSAWR was not directly involved in the formation of the ECC, although it had long
worked towards the objective of building a mass war resistance movement, had assisted
aNC underground structures in working towards this objective. through building awaress
about military issues it had also opened up political space and created a supportive environ-
ment internationally, thus making a considerable contribution to establishing the conditions
under which the ECC might emerge. It immediately threw itself into the task of building
international support for the ECC, in which it was buttressed by religious organisations and
old allies like WRi.
Of course it couldn’t last. The state went on the offensive, first through a concerted pro-
paganda campaign, in which it labelled ECC in terms such as a ‘vast Soviet active measures
apparatus’ and a ‘foreign-subsidised, tele-guided psychological warfare weapon aimed at
gutting our defences and delivering us bound, to our foe’ (cited in CIIR 1989: 113). Fanciful
organograms linked the ECC via a global network of front organisations to the Communist
Part of the Soviet Union and counter-organisations such as Veterans for Victory were set up.
Then in 1986, the government declared a nationwide state of emergency (there had been
emergencies in particular areas before that) and began rounding up ECC activists, many
of whom endured long periods of detention or were obliged to go underground, moving
from one safe house to the next. In August 1988 the organisation was banned, effectively
suppressing its activities. Within a year, however, the government’s grip on the country had
weakened to such an extent, that along with other banned organisations, the ECC unilate-
rally declared itself ‘unbanned’ and resumed activities, although its activists continued to be
harassed.